My Nonprofit Reviews

I am a volunteer consultant at the Potomac Job Corps in Washington, DC, and have been in awe since the Job Corps students there built their own Success In Style studio, crafting special equipment, putting in the necessary electrical connections, installing dry wall, painting, and a adding new air conditioning unit. The results were spectacular, and even now (three years later), students peek in, jaw agape and eyes wide with delight, as they exclaim how beautiful the space is. It has become a bit of a retreat away from the work boots and grime, computers and mounds of paper of every day life on campus, as they step into this elegant space they know was designed just for them. In this studio, newly graduating students are transformed into professionals, thrilled to be immersed in our environment, and by the time we take photos of them in their career apparel (usually suits, sometimes trousers and sport coats; also socks, shoes, belts, and t-shirts/underwear) they are smiling, high fiving each other, and giggling about how much they feel transformed. One student in particular came in with an exceptionally sour demeanor (which is not very common because - in the every least - they are glad to be graduating) and regarded me with suspicion. He dragged himself over to the suit rack, complaining about how ties constrain him (he didn’t know how to tie one) and he argued with me over changing out his shoes. Very slowly, his eyes picked up that twinkle, wondering about how he might look with a few new things, and he cooperated by going into the dressing room with my suggestions. After well over an hour of what could be called negotiations, he came out to check himself in the mirror. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “I look gooooood!” He straightened his tie, pushed his hand through his hair, and pulled out the cell phone. The selfies commenced and he thanked me profusely. When things quieted down, his eyes welled up and he gave me a big hug. He said, “I really need this stuff! Thank you!” I found out later that he’d lost his mom, had no real home, and had been floundering for months on campus. I think I cried on the way home that day (but that wouldn’t have been the first time.)